


Empty Spaces

by bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Series: Moving Targets [1]
Category: Smallville
Genre: AU Post Season 9, Angst, Big Dumb Alien, Breakups, F/M, Families of Choice, JLA - Freeform, Robots, Trouble In Paradise, time jumps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:07:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24220312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: After the war with the Kandorians is finally over, Chloe and Oliver, as well as the rest of the budding Justice League must figure out how to put the pieces back together and move on... even if it's more difficult than they ever realized it would be.
Relationships: Clark Kent & Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen & Mia Dearden, Oliver Queen/Chloe Sullivan
Series: Moving Targets [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1748179
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Queen Jet, Star City -- September 16, 2010**

Once the plane took off, Chloe finally moved on her seat, looking away from the window and down at her laptop bag that was on the seat next to her, she pulled the computer out and set it on the small desk in front of her, she knew they only had a limited time of connection until they were flying over the sea, and then she would have limited access to the satellite, but not internet.

She was silent for a moment longer then finally spoke up, "they've confirmed our reservations."

Oliver was sitting on the seat across from her, though his eyes were focused intently out the window. "That's good." His voice was even, if slightly distant.

Chloe looked at him for a moment then turned her eyes back down to her computer, not planning on looking away from it anytime soon.

He drew in a breath and let it out silently, leaning his head against the glass. This was going to be a very, very long flight.

* * *

**Watchtower, Metropolis -- May 14, 2010**

"Impulse, come in, I need you, _now_." Chloe said, her eyes wide as she watched as the rest of the Watchtower screens came to life, walkie-talkie still firmly in hand even though Oliver had stopped responding a while ago.

"Impulse to Watchtower, lost you for a while there." Bart's face came up in the main screen and Chloe held her breath.

"Green Arrow is trapped, you need to find him," she rushed over to the main desk, fingers sliding over the screen as she tapped it lightly, "I'm sending you his coordinates, Bart, _hurry_."

* * *

**Vent ducts, Metropolis -- May 14, 2010**

Oliver yanked his arm away from one of what could only be described as _robots_ tried dragging him out of the nearest vent. He had cut communication with Chloe less than three minutes ago, right before the first mechanical bot had broken through and grabbed his leg. He just hoped he'd severed their link in time to keep whoever was behind this from going after her. 

The only way he'd be able to make sure was if he made it out of there alive. 

"Get off me," he growled, trying to gain enough leverage to punch the thing in its face.

Bart could hear Oliver but couldn't see a thing, those damn things were little but _vicious_ and two of them had attached themselves to his uniform, he tried fighting them off but the kryptonite weapons Chloe had handed him weren't fazing the little monsters in the least, so he did the next best thing and ran as fast as he could, through the door of the lab he had found himself in, and smashed the robots against the wall, which seemed to do the trick.

Once he was free of the two who had jumped him the second he walked through the door, he picked up speed again and started picking them up one by one and throwing them against the wall as fast as he could, the force seemed to be enough to short-circuit them.

"Man, you okay?" Bart called as he started trying to get the ones that were attached to Oliver's uniform away from him.

He grimaced, ignoring the pain shooting up his leg. "What the hell are these things? Alien _robots_? I'm all right."

"They look like Gremlins, dude," Bart said as he finally managed to smash the last one against the wall and watched it as it twitched for a moment longer then went dead. "Arrow secured, Watchtower. He's okay."

"Shut your communicator back off," he said, following Bart out of the vent and landing on the ground with a painful thud. He grimaced. "We need to get back and make sure the signal wasn't tracked by whoever sent the things after me in the first place."

Bart shut it off and frowned, looking down at the blood dripping from Oliver's leg, "can you walk okay?"

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "Yeah, I think so. Go ahead back to Watchtower. I've got my bike outside."

The younger man just raised an eyebrow over his sunglasses and shook his head, "no way, man, I'll leave once we're outside."

Oliver resisted the urge to roll his eyes, instead choosing to kneel down on the floor and pick up one of the broken monsterbots. He turned it over in his hand, a frown furrowing his brow. "I've never seen anything like this before," he murmured.

"Should we bring one back?"

He glanced up at Bart, then back down at it. "Only if we're sure there's not some kind of GPS in it," he responded, rising to his feet once more with a wince, wishing that he had Clark's x-ray vision right then.

Bart looked between them and picked up the one that seemed to be the most destroyed by it's... arm, wing, whatever it was, "how are we supposed to know that? This one looks pretty dead..."

Oliver shrugged a little. "No idea," he admitted, glancing at the one Bart was holding, then growing still when he heard scurrying sounds from the vents. "But let's try and figure it out from _outside_ because more are on the way." He quickly made his way toward the door.

Frowning at the noise, Bart shook his head and handed the bot to Oliver before awkwardly picking the other man up against his side, "just hold on, they are moving fast."

He didn't even have time to protest as Bart sped him out of the building. Feeling dizzy and vaguely nauseous, Oliver leaned against the side of the building as the other man secured the door.

Bart took the bot from Oliver and frowned, "might be a better idea if I drive the bike back."

At that, Oliver raised both of his eyebrows. "I don't think so. You run, I'll drive." 

"Okay," Bart said, raising an eyebrow, "if you're sure, you just look pale."

He looked down at his leg, which was still bleeding. "It's not a far drive. I'll be all right."

"Yeah, okay, I'll see you there," Bart gave Oliver one more look to make sure he was okay before disappearing.

Oliver looked at the building warily, then moved over to the bike he'd parked in the alley, glancing around to make sure no one was paying attention. He yanked his hood up over his head as he climbed onto it and sped back toward Watchtower.

He wanted some damn answers.

* * *

**Queen Jet -- September 16, 2010**

Chloe sighed deeply when the connection stopped working, she leaned back against her seat and glanced out of the window, all she could see was water below, and they still had a long way to go before they landed in Germany. The uncomfortable silence only made the flight feel longer.

Oliver had dozed for a few minutes, but woke up just as quickly. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, glancing across the aisle to Chloe as she stared out the window. His chest tightened a little. "Chloe?"

She was surprised to hear his voice at all, but turned her head to look at him a moment later, "yeah?"

He paused. "Thirsty? There's plenty to drink." He glanced toward the back of the plane. Mostly because it hurt to hold her gaze for long. 

It would probably be easier on both of them if he didn't try to be so nice, "no, I'm okay, thanks."

He nodded slightly, rising to his feet and heading toward the back. He grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and unscrewed the lid, taking a long drink and letting his eyes close.

Just a couple of months ago things had been going so much more smoothly between them. Now it felt like they were right back to where they started from.

But this time, things weren't even fun.

* * *

**Watchtower, Metropolis -- May 14, 2010**

Chloe was waiting impatiently for Ollie to make his way back to the Watchtower, she had sent Bart with the bot to Dr. Hamilton's lab right away, and then to pick up Victor so he could analyze the technology for them and figure out if that thing was alien or what. She looked up at the screen when the view changed to the elevator camera and Watchtower informed her Green Arrow had entered the building, her heart beating fast against her chest.

By the time he made it to the main floor of Watchtower, he was bleeding and limping a little, but he flashed her a grin anyway. "Thanks for the rescue."

She didn't even notice the limping, she was too busy throwing her arms around his neck and closing her eyes tightly, "thank God."

He held her back tightly, closing his eyes, as well and pressing a kiss to her temple. "I'm all right," he whispered.

A moment later, she pulled back just enough to look up at him, "Bart went to pick up Vic, they are going to the labs to figure out what that thing was."

Oliver nodded slightly, searching her eyes. "Everything was all right here?" He looked her over even though she appeared to be perfectly fine.

"Yeah," she lifted a hand to his cheek, "and everyone else is okay..." she looked down and pursed her lips together, her voice quieter, "they said the Kandorians disappeared."

He looked down, too, then turned his head to kiss her palm. "I'm sorry," he whispered, lifting his hand to her cheek, as well.

When Chloe turned to look up at him again, her eyes were teary, but she had a sad smile on her, "I'm glad you're okay."

The sight of her tears made his gut clench and he leaned down, kissing her softly on the mouth. "I'm not going anywhere," he whispered.

Chloe returned the kiss and tightened her hold on him, nodding slightly and taking a deep breath, "are you hurt?"

At her question, his leg throbbed painfully. "Well, define hurt. If I don't sit down I'm pretty sure I'm going to lose all feeling in my left leg."

She frowned and pulled back, her eyes widening when she noticed his leg, "Ollie, why didn't you say something?" She didn't wait for an answer before carefully starting to drag him to the couch.

"I'll be all right," he told her, limping over to the sofa and sinking down onto it. "Who knew two pound robot monsters could be that strong?" he grumbled.

Chloe pushed him down until he was laying on his back and lifted his leg gently, placing it on top of as many pillows as she could get her hands on to stop the bleeding, "we need to figure out who sent those, they didn't look like Kandorian technology to me."

"Bart said they reminded him of gremlins." He winced at the pressure on his leg. "Think I'll need a tetnus shot?" He paused. "Do you think robot gremlins can get rabies?"

"I think we're rabies-safe," she told him, raising one eyebrow as she removed his boot slowly, "you might be delusional, though."

Oliver flashed her a grin. "Good to know. I don't think foaming at the mouth is very attractive personally."

That made her smile a little and she raised her other eyebrow too as she took off his other boot, "I guess I should keep that in mind then?"

"Just don't turn into a zombie." He smirked at her.

"Trust me, I don't plan on it," Chloe reached up and unzipped his vest so she could have access to his pants, then unzipped that too without giving it a second thought, not like she had never gotten him out of his uniform before, of course, the circumstances had always been a lot more enjoyable.

He watched her intently, his eyes darkening just a little. "You know what would make this more fun?"

She paused and cocked her head then started to pull his pants down, "if your leg wasn't gushing blood?"

"That too," he acknowledged, not detoured at all by the retort. "Also you in a nurse's uniform." He grinned again.

That actually had her stopping all together, "is that so? What happened to, what did you call it again? Arrowette?"

Oliver's grin widened at that. "Hell, Chloe, you could be wearing a t-shirt and I'd feel the same."

"Well, good, because your t-shirts are much more comfortable than a nurse outfit," she told him, then took a deep breath and pulled his pants out the rest of the way, carefully around the wound, her face growing serious, "this doesn't look good, Ollie."

He propped himself up on his elbows and looked down at the wound that, admittedly, was a little deeper than he expected and still bleeding. "Yeah, well. I've had worse. Let's just get it wrapped before I bleed all over the couch."

"Lay back down, I'll need to clean it first, we'll worry about the couch later," she told him, looking at him for a second then moving to grab the first aid kit, which was a lot better equipped than most, thanks to Dr. Hamilton, "we should have Emil look at it."

"I think he's gonna be busy with our robot monster that may or may not have robot rabies," he pointed out, lying back down and letting out a breath.

"You'll need stitches," she told him and while Dr. Hamilton had taught her how to do those on smaller cuts, she had never practiced on a live model before.

He gazed at her. "You can do that."

Chloe took a deep breath and placed a towel under his leg then looked at him, "are you sure?"

Oliver held her gaze. "I trust you," he said softly.

She held his gaze for a moment then sighed deeply looking down at his leg and hesitating for just a second before she started to clean the blood.

"Thank you," he said quietly, laying his head back down on the pillows and letting his eyes drift shut.

Once the wound was clean enough, she glanced at him, "hold still," she whispered before lifting a shaky hand and holding on to the needle tightly, she had numbed his leg with the cream Emil had given her, but she still expected it to hurt.

Oliver did as instructed, holding very still, but barely feeling the needle as she went to work. "I don't know about you, but I vote for a vacation. Maybe the beach."

She didn't say anything, even though she heard his words, she just focused until she was finished, luckily the cut was deep but not wide, so it didn't take her all that long because she was sure she had been holding her breath the entire time. "I'm done." She said a little more firmly, pulling her hand back, "does it hurt a lot?"

"Right now it's pretty numb," he assured her, opening his eyes to look at her. He offered her a small smile.

"Good," she wrapped bandage around his cut carefully and just tight enough to keep his leg from bleeding anymore, "are you hurt anywhere else?" She asked him quietly as she moved to stand up.

"I'm okay," Oliver said just as quietly, sitting up a little and watching as she began to put the supplies away once more.

Once everything was away and her hands were clean, she picked up a bottle of water and painkillers then walked over to him again, holding them out to him, "you should take this."  
"Because when the numbness wears off it's going to hurt like hell?" He took the pills and water bottle from her, downing two of the tablets quickly.

"Most likely," she told him, forcing a tiny smile on her lips then brushing a hand over his hair.

He reached up and caught her hand in his, then shifted over to make room for her on the sofa. "Come on," he said quietly, tugging gently on her hand.

She raised her eyebrows and looked at him, her eyes widening slowly, "you're hurt, you should be comfortable."

"I sleep better when you're with me anyway." The words were out of his mouth before he could even pause to consider them first. He met her eyes. "Just lie down," he said softly.

Chloe squeezed his hand and considered him for a moment then moved to lay down on the couch, trying her best not to move it too much as she laid down on her side, facing him, she really should call the boys and ask them what they found, but she would lay down with him for a while until he passed out.

Oliver reached up and gently tucked some hair behind her ear, resting his hand against her cheek. Then he leaned forward and kissed her forehead.  
She looked up at him for a moment, then leaned in, kissing him softly as she wrapped an arm around him, her chest tightening at the thought that she almost lost _both_ of them at the same time.

"I'm here," he murmured against her ear, shifting closer to her and resting a hand gently on her back.

All she did was nod slightly and close her eyes, shifting closer too, "rest."

"You too." He kissed her forehead once more and within moments, he began to drift off.

Once she felt his breathing slowing down and felt him relaxing, she opened her eyes again and looked at him, brushing her thumb gently over his cheek until she eventually dozed off too.


	2. Chapter 2

**Queen Jet -- September 16, 2010**

Oliver rubbed a hand over the back of his neck as he paced the length of the jet, cell phone to his ear. "Then rearrange my schedule. I won't be back until next week, at the earliest." He paused, listening to his assistant's voice on the other end of the line. "I'm aware. I've been working on the fundraiser during my flight." He glanced over to where Chloe was sitting, laptop in front of her, though she didn't seem to be paying much attention to it. "All right. Thanks, Janie." He hung up the phone and let out a breath.

Chloe pursed her lips together and glanced up at him when he hung up the phone, "everything okay?" She asked, although by his posture, she knew the answer to that question, she had become really good at reading all the details about Ollie's body language in the past few months, unfortunately, he was just as good at reading her.

He met her eyes, but only for the briefest of moments. "I never considered what it was would be like having to do the work of two people at Queen Industries and LuthorCorp _and_ don the green leather every night," he admitted, moving back to his seat and sitting down.

"It's a lot to handle," she agreed quietly, watching him even as he looked away from her, "maybe I could help."

Oliver paused at that, glancing up at her once more, mostly out of surprise. "How so?"

"I'm a fast learner," she told him, then shrugged a shoulder, "I can't make appearances for you, but I could help organizing events and things you have to do, I do have experience with the media."

"I know you do." He leaned back in his seat for a moment, picking up his water bottle and taking a drink. "Tess was planning a big fundraiser." He dropped his gaze, his voice growing a little more quiet. "She was apparently planning it to benefit the Metropolis Library. Wanted to make it bigger."

Chloe frowned slowly, for all she had heard about Tess, she hadn't heard about her being interested in fundraisers, "do you need help planning it?"

"I wouldn't say no. Considering it's taking place week after next and I'm only halfway through her plans." He glanced at her.

Pursing her lips together, she nodded, "send them to me, I'll see what I can do," she tried for a small smile, if she could make things easier on him, it was the least she could do, after everything...

* * *

**Watchtower, Metropolis -- May 14, 2010**

Oliver wasn't ready to wake up. Minus the dull throbbing in his leg, he was pretty comfortable with Chloe curled up against him, his arm draped around her. He wasn't even sure what had woken him, he just knew something felt _off_ somehow. His eyebrows furrowed as he opened his eyes slowly. He blinked a couple of times when he saw J'onn Jones standing a few feet away. For a moment he wondered if he was still asleep and having some bizarre dream. "J'onn?" His voice was sleepy, but quiet, not wanting to wake Chloe unless it was really necessary. He knew she hadn't been sleeping well for awhile now, considering everything that had been going on.

Chloe stirred when Oliver spoke but didn't wake up, J'onn stepped closer and looked between the two of them, "something has happened." He said quietly, but Chloe needed to be awake for this.

His eyebrows furrowed even more at that and he glanced down at Chloe, then back up at the older man. "What happened?"

With a deep breath, Chloe felt like something was tugging at her, trying to wake her up, so she opened her eyes and looked around for a moment, up at Ollie, then over her shoulder, "J'onn?"

Oliver kissed her forehead and reluctantly sat up a little, helping Chloe do the same. He bit back a grimace at the pain that shot through his leg.

"No, don't move," Chloe told Ollie sleepily, even though it was too late for that. She stood up and placed a pillow on the coffee table then helped him place his leg on top of it, "there, don't move," she said again before turning to J'onn, "what's wrong?"

J'onn watched the two of them for a moment, "sit down, Chloe," he told her quietly, stepping forward when she did, "it's about Clark."

He frowned a little, glancing sideways at Chloe and then up at J'onn. "We know. He told us what would happen, remember?" His voice was quiet.

"What he thought would happen," J'onn corrected him.

Chloe was about to stand again, but something made her stay put, "what about Clark?"

"He was found this morning," J'onn didn't like using his telepathy on people unless necessary, but he wanted to make sure Chloe and Oliver were both as calm as they could be, because he knew how hard the news would be on them.

"Found?" Oliver echoed warily. Even though his mind was telling him _this doesn't sound very good_ , he felt calm.

Her eyes widened slightly, but it almost felt like J'onn was distant, she felt kind of numb, "what happened?"

"We found his body outside of the Daily Planet," his voice was quiet, calm, soothing, but even with all his powers, he couldn't completely control their reaction, not without making them unconscious, and they had to listen.

Oliver stared at J'onn, blinking slowly as he tried to process that. "His body...what happened?"

Chloe gasped quietly, her eyes wide and teary, but she didn't feel anything, even though she knew she should.

"Stab wound, no weapon was found yet," J'onn looked from Oliver to Chloe, "do you know what could do that to him?"

She shook her head, staring up at J'onn blankly, "kryptonite, but he's not supposed to be here. He was gone."

"I don't understand. Why wasn't he pulled into the other dimension with the rest of the Kryptonians?" Oliver reached out and curled his hand around Chloe's.

"I'm afraid I have as many questions as you do right now, Oliver." He said quietly.

Chloe glanced down at their hands for a second then back at J'onn, "it can't be him, Clark can't get stabbed, J'onn, you know that."

"Unless it's with Kryptonite," Oliver murmured, looking down at the floor for a moment, then at J'onn. "Where uh...where is he now?"

She nodded in agreement, starting at J'onn, "I wanna see him."

"At the morgue," he said sincerely, "I don't think that's a good idea, Chloe. I will go back to the station, and I'll be back when I know more."

"He's right," Oliver said softly, squeezing her hand a little and still feeling oddly calm about the whole thing. "How long do you think it'll take?" he asked J'onn.

"I don't know, I will be back as soon as I can," he looked at Oliver, "stay with her, it will get worse when I leave."

Chloe frowned a little at that, but she couldn't make sense of J'onn's words.  
Oliver frowned, too. "I'm not going anywhere."

J'onn nodded, "good luck," he whispered, before flying away.

Chloe blinked, and looked around, her eyes wide as if she was just coming out of a daze, "Clark."

Oliver blinked a few times, too, feeling his chest tighten almost immediately after J'onn vanished from sight. "Chloe..."

"This isn't right," she was on her feet almost instantly, "we need to go see him."

"No, Chloe, we can't." He winced as he moved his leg off the pillow and stood up, too.

Chloe paused and turned to him, stilling when she saw the pain on his face, "you can't walk, you have to stay, I'll go and... and I'll be back, but you have to stay."

"No," he responded, reaching out and catching her arm. "We can't. Chloe, there's a reason J'onn told us to stay here." He swallowed hard.

When she turned to face him, her eyes were teary again and her chest was tight, "he's alone. We let him go, I told him to go and I shouldn't have."

"This isn't your fault," he whispered, his chest tightening at the look on her face, at the tears in her eyes.

"It can't be him," she whispered back to him, her brain running in every possible direction at once, and she couldn't make sense of anything, "I need to see him to make sure, he should be safe, with his people."

"Chloe." He reached out and touched her face even as he slid his other arm around her.

"He can't be dead, Ollie," she whispered brokenly, tears running down her cheek now, "he's Clark, he can't..."

Oliver pulled her into his arms, holding onto her tightly even as he shut his eyes. "I know," he whispered.

She leaned into him and it took her a moment before lifting her arms around him, "I didn't say goodbye." Chloe murmured, her body shaking slightly as she started crying harder.

He winced at that, pulling her closer to him as guilt swept over him. Why the hell hadn't he just let Clark go after her? At least she wouldn't have _that_ particular guilt weighing on her. "He knew, Chloe. He knew how much he meant to you."

Chloe's hold on Oliver tightened a little and she shook her head, "we shouldn't have let him go by himself..."

"We didn't know what was going to happen," he whispered.

"I told him it was his destiny," she admitted, a sob breaking through her as she turned her face against his neck, "he should lead his people."

"Chloe." His voice was pained. "You were talking him into saving the world."

"I talked him into walking into Zod's trap," she murmured.

"You and Clark saved the planet," he whispered fiercely.

"Me?" She pulled away, her hands shaking as well as her voice, "I stood here, Oliver, I couldn't even keep _you_ safe. I shouldn't have let either one of you leave, we should have found another way."

"There was no other way," he said quietly, shaking his head. "We went through the options. All of them. None of them would have been--this was the only way, Chloe."

"There had to be another way," she told him, her face falling.

"There wasn't," he whispered. "Not without a lot of other people dying, too."

Chloe swallowed and stared up at him with big eyes, "he was supposed to be safe."

His eyes were sad as he gazed back at her. "I know." He reached out and took her hand in his.   
She looked at him for a moment longer then her face fell and she looked down, shaking her head and holding on to his hand tightly.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, lifting her hand to his lips and kissing the back of it softly. 

"I can't just sit here..." she told him quietly, she had done enough of staying there and watching things happen.

"Chloe, there's nothing to be done right now," he said just as quietly. "Except for to wait for J'onn."

"What if it isn't him?" Chloe looked up at him, a hint of hope in her eyes, "I would know."

"No." Oliver shook his head, barely able to supress a grimace. He knew exactly why J'onn hadn't wanted Chloe to go to the morgue. Because whatever went down hadn't had pleasant results. "J'onn would know too."

She took a deep breath then looked over at him, "you need to sit down," she whispered.

She was right about that. His leg was throbbing painfully, but he shook his head a little, not about to sit down if there was any chance she'd bolt before he had a chance to get back up. "Only if you do."

Chloe sighed softly and nodded a little, she knew what he was thinking, and he wasn't completely wrong that she considered the possibility. The thought of sitting around and doing nothing was enough to drive her crazy, but she couldn't risk Oliver hurting himself even more by trying to chase after her. She had caused enough damage as it was, so with a deep breath, she sat back down heavily.

Wincing involuntarily, he sat back down, as well, letting out a breath. Then he shifted slightly, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her to him, kissing her temple. 

She leaned against him and sighed deeply, her eyes on the door, her heart still beating fast against her chest as she waited for J'onn to walk through the door and tell them it wasn't him.

* * * 

**Queen Jet -- September 16, 2010**

Oliver finished typing up another email to his assistant and let out a breath, glancing over to where Chloe was sitting. He blinked a couple of times as he realized she'd slumped over onto the desk holding her laptop, her eyes shut and her breathing steady and even. 

The expression on his face softened as realized she'd fallen asleep and in the back of his mind worry brushed against his subconscious. 

He shifted slightly and then rose to his feet, moving over to her side and quietly closing her laptop. He tucked some hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead softly, closing his eyes for a moment. They'd been so close and now they were so far away. His chest tightened and he shifted, leaning down and gathering her into his arms, then carrying her to the back of the jet, toward the bed that was there. He laid her down on it, then set about removing her shoes and setting them on the floor. He pulled a blanket up over her and gazed down at her for a moment longer. 

"Sweet dreams," he whispered. 

Chloe had woken up by the time he picked her up, but she kept her eyes closed, shifting and adjusting when he laid her down on the bed, doing her best to pretend she was still sleeping until he walked away. She turned her back to the hallway and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she opened her eyes, then wrapped her arms around the covers tightly and pulled them close to her chest before closing her eyes again as she told herself over and over again that it was better this way. And that it would be easier once they both realized that.

She just wished at least one of them believed that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Watchtower, Metropolis -- May 17, 2010**

With a deep breath, Chloe placed the last file folder in the box and sealed it shut. The computers were still intact, Victor was going to take care of that portion of the moving, but everything else in the Watchtower was packed and ready to go to Star City. It had been Oliver's idea, to start over in a new headquarter, a new city, keep some distance from Metropolis and all the memories, at least for a while, and although Chloe felt like it was all happening too fast, she knew they didn't have time to stop, to breathe, to _grieve_ , because there was someone else after them already.

The bots were still being analyzed and even Victor didn't seem to find connections to anyone or anything in any other databases, but they were all looking.

"I'm done with the files," Chloe announced to Oliver quietly, looking over her shoulder at him.

He glanced back over at her from where he was packing the rest of her few personal belongings she'd had at Watchtower--a coffee mug, a picture of Jimmy, a pair of earrings. "I'm almost done, too," he said just as softly.

"How is your leg feeling?" She asked as she stood up and walked over to where he was, his help with the packing had been limited because every time Chloe noticed him wincing, she made him stop.

"I'm all right," he assured her, worry in his eyes. It had been three days since J'onn had come by to give them the news about Clark and he knew how hard it was hitting her. His own chest tightened every time he thought about Clark, and it wasn't like he and the other man had been close friends.

Chloe had been doing her best to keep her emotions under control, they hadn't released Clark's body yet and while J'onn assured her that it was him and that he had already informed Mrs. Kent and she was taking care of everything, she knew it wouldn't feel real until she saw him for herself. The move had been a good way to keep her occupied, keep her mind busy and keep herself numb enough so that she didn't lose it, but if they were supposed to travel to Star City soon to oversee the installation of the new facility, Chloe knew she would have to talk about it soon, not because she wanted to, but because she had to tell Lois.

"I can finish it up, you should sit down," she told Oliver, she had said those words to him so many times in the past couple of days, it felt automatic, which was something she was welcoming at that moment.

"There's not much left to finish," he told her softly, reaching out and resting a hand on her arm. "Why don't you sit down for a minute?" She'd been on the go for three days straight, thinking of one thing after another that had to be done. He knew what she was doing, and he understood it. Probably better than a lot of people would. "Are you hungry? I could order some carry-out and have Bart pick it up."

Chloe immediately shook her head, the answer to his question was always the same too, "no, I'm okay." Eating was the last thing on her mind, sitting down and stopping, even with a meal in front of her meant thinking, and that was the last thing she wanted to do.

The worry in his eyes deepened at her continued refusal. "You haven't eaten all day," he said softly.

"I'm not hungry," she told him, stepping away from his worried gaze and picking up the box he'd been working on to place it on top of the one she had just finished packing with difficulty.

Oliver looked down at the floor for a moment. "All right," he murmured.

Her chest tightened at the defeat in his voice but she took a deep breath, she would have to apologize to him later, she couldn't afford to lose it now because she didn't know how she was going to pull herself back together to do what she had to do, "I need to go see Lois." She told him in a whisper, the thought of telling her cousin terrified her and she had no idea how to even begin or how much to tell her, but she knew she had to do it.

At that, he actually flinched and he looked over at her once more, his stomach tightening. "Do you want me to tell her? I can," he said quietly. Telling Lois that the man she loved was dead wasn't something he'd ever wanted to do, but if it would spare Chloe even a little bit of pain, he'd do it in a heartbeat.

She shook her head, keeping her back to Oliver, "I have to do it," her voice wavered and she paused, swallowing hard, "I just don't know how..."

His chest tightened at the tremor in her voice and he slowly moved over to where she was standing, then hesitantly wound his arms around her from behind. "I know."

The second she felt his arms around her, she closed her eyes and held her breath, tears instantly blurring her vision as she opened her eyes again and as much as she wanted to pull away from him so the emotions wouldn't take over like they wanted to, she simply couldn't bring herself to, "I need to be strong for her," she whispered and sobbed silently then shook her head, "I need to hold on for a while longer, Ollie." Her voice was quiet but pleading, she knew he was trying to comfort her, but she couldn't let him, not yet.

Oliver closed his eyes tightly at the soft plea, at the sob he felt as she shuddered, but didn't hear because she suppressed the sound. "Okay," he whispered, pressing a soft kiss to her shoulder. "I'll be here when you're ready."

"Thank you," she said almost inaudibly, turning her head to glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes when she felt his lips against her shoulder.

He nodded slightly, hugging her tightly for a moment and then letting her go. "Want some more coffee?" he offered, heading over to the machine.

Chloe took a deep breath and rubbed her hands over her face then nodded a little, before pausing and shaking her head, "I'll get some on the way, I should go." She couldn't delay seeing her cousin anymore.  
Oliver paused and turned to look at her. "You want me to come with you?" he asked quietly, even though he was pretty sure he already knew what her answer would be.

"No, you should get some rest," when she turned to look at him, her expression was perfectly blank once more, "I will call if I need help." She promised.

He bit his lip and looked down, nodding. "All right. I'll keep my cell with me." He paused. "Chloe?"

"Yeah?" She asked, her stomach tightening as she looked at him.

He hesitated, then shook his head a little. "Drive safe," he whispered.

Chloe let out her breath then nodded, glad he had said that instead, she walked over to her desk and picked up her purse and keys, "I'll be back soon," and without waiting for another word, she walked out of the main door.

Oliver watched her go, his chest tightening. "Okay," he said softly, even though she was already gone. He had a feeling he wouldn't see her until at least the next day. Because once Lois found out Clark was dead, there was no way Chloe would leave her.

* * *

Chloe made her way back to the Watchtower a few hours later, holding on to a paper tightly in her hand, she thought it was weird when she didn't find her cousin at the Planet, but she didn't expect to find all of Lois' things gone when she walked into the Talon apartment and a note on the coffee table saying she had left for Kenya for a job opportunity and something about her being bad with goodbyes.

It was typical Lois and normally, Chloe would just shake her head and smile at it, but she didn't want her cousin to be halfway across the world when she found out about Clark, and she wanted to be there with her.

With a deep breath, she stepped inside the main room to the top floor, not surprised to find Oliver there, sitting on the couch, but surprised to see the drink in his hand and a lost look on his face, "Ollie?" She said quietly when he didn't look up as she walked in.

When he turned his head to look at her, his eyes were red, his expression as blank as hers had been when she'd left. "How'd it go?" 

"She wasn't there," Chloe admitted, walking over to the couch with a worried look on her face, "what happened?"

"I got a call from someone at the hospital." He shifted his gaze away from her and took a long drink before speaking again. "Tess is dead."

Chloe's eyes widened at the information, only then realizing she hadn't heard anything about the other woman for days, and now that she thought about it, Tess would have been an obvious target for the Kandorians, "what happened?" She asked quietly, moving to sit down next to him.

Oliver's grip on the glass in his hand tightened and he swallowed hard. "She was burned. Pretty bad." His voice was strained but he struggled to keep control over his emotions. "Infection set in fast. They couldn't--" He shook his head a little. "There was nothing they could do." He finished off the drink--his third since she'd been gone--and set the glass down on the table before rising to his feet.

"Ollie, I'm so sorry," she said sincerely, despite the fact that she didn't trust Tess and didn't like the woman at all, she knew she was important to him.

He nodded a little, moving over to her desk and packing a couple of CDs into the still-open box, falling silent. "Mia's all packed and ready to go." He sniffed, rubbing a hand over his face and reaching for another CD. "I think she's glad to be going somewhere with a beach." 

Chloe stood up a moment later and walked over to him placing a hand over his back and rubbing it soothingly as she watched him, "she seemed excited about it when you talked to her."

He nodded again. "It'll be good for her to be away from here," he murmured, tucking the CD into the box. "Too many bad memories." 

"I think it will be good for all of us," she whispered, watching him closely.

"Yeah," he said quietly, not meeting her eyes.

She hesitated for a second then moved to his side, stepping closer to him and pressing a kiss to his upper arm as she kept her eyes on his face, forgetting all about Clark and Lois for the time being and focusing on him instead.

Oliver closed his eyes, his shoulders slumping. Then he wound his arms around her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

Chloe held her breath for a second then wrapped her arms around him again, at least she would have more time before talking to her cousin, so she didn't feel like she had to hold back. She turned her face against his chest and tightened her hold on him.

He tightened his arms around her, holding his breath and not even hearing the footsteps as they approached.

"We'll be okay," she whispered to him, running her fingers through his hair as she lifted a hand to cup the back of his head.

"Chloe?" A third voice said from where he stood, a few steps away from the couple.

Oliver started at the sound of the familiar voice and looked up to see _Clark Kent_ standing there. His eyes widened, his mouth slightly agape. "Clark?"

Chloe stilled completely, her stomach dropped and she looked up at Oliver for a full moment before slowly turning around, her eyes wide when she saw him.

Clark didn't move forward, he just looked at the two of them then nodded, "it's me," he said, focusing on Chloe.

"How?" Oliver asked, still holding onto Chloe without realizing it. "J'onn said--"

"J'onn took me to the fortress," Clark explained, looking between both of them, "Jor-El brought me back." He himself still felt overwhelmed about everything, between Zod's betrayal, the book of Rao, and everything that had happened between then and now that J'onn had filled him in on.

A faint smile touched Oliver's lips and he held his hand out toward Clark. "It's good to have you back, Man."

Clark stepped closer and nodded at Oliver, taking his hand and shaking it a little then looking at Chloe, who was still staring at him, "it's me," he assured her.

Chloe looked down at the men's hands and took a deep breath, pulling away from Oliver after a moment and wrapping her arms tightly around Clark's neck instead.

Oliver leaned back against the desk to take some of the pressure off his leg as he watched the two friends embrace. "And you're all right?"

He wrapped his arms around Chloe back and closed his eyes for a moment, opening them again once they started to pull back, "I'm okay, but I can't find Lois." He said worriedly, looking down at Chloe.

She took a deep breath and wiped her face, looking up at Clark, "she left."

Oliver glanced at Chloe, startled. "Left? Where did she go?"

Chloe sniffed and took a deep breath, calming herself down for just a second before looking between the two of them, "to Kenya, she got a job offer."

Clark's face fell and he looked over at Chloe again, "when did she leave? Maybe I can stop her."

Oliver reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder silently, wondering the same thing. He wasn't entirely surprised Lois had left without a goodbye because he knew she hated the word.

"She left last night according to the note she left me," Chloe told him quietly, "she said she would call once she landed, but she had to make a few stops, I don't know where she is, but she isn't here anymore."

Clark sighed and rubbed a hand over his neck, looking around the room and for the first time, noticing all the boxes. He frowned and looked up at Oliver and Chloe, "and you are leaving too?"

He nodded slightly, leaning a little more onto the desk as his leg began to throb painfully. "To Star City," he said quietly. "The rest of the gang's there already, except for us and Mia."

This time, Clark focused on Chloe, his eyes widening slightly as he took a step toward his best friend, "what about the Watchtower?"

Chloe looked up at him with big eyes then glanced at Oliver, "we don't have to leave anymore, we can stay and... try to go back to normal... before Zod."

Oliver blinked at that, caught off guard by Chloe's words. "Uh, I think that should at least involve some discussion before we make any rash decisions, don't you?"

"What's to discuss?" She smiled a little, looking back at Clark, "Clark is back, he can't look over Metropolis by himself, we can stay and work together."

Clark smiled a little at that and nodded, "Metropolis wouldn't be the same without you." He said to Chloe.

He stared at her for a moment, then looked at Clark, his jaw tightening a little. He pushed himself away from the desk, ignoring the way his chest suddenly hurt almost as much as his leg. Shaking his head, he limped his way toward the exit.

"Ollie?" Chloe said with a frown, starting after him.

Clark placed a hand on Chloe's shoulder, "he probably just needs some time."

Oliver shoved the door open and headed down the hallway toward the elevator without turning around.

Pursing her lips together, Chloe swallowed and nodded, watching him go then looking up at Clark, she couldn't leave him, not after everything, even if most of her instincts were telling her to go with Oliver, she took a deep breath and nodded slightly.

"I'm going to try and track Lois down. You think you could help me? Maybe we can stop her from leaving."

"Yeah," she nodded and took a deep breath, smiling at Clark slightly before moving over to one of the stations.

"Thanks, Chloe. I couldn't do this without you," Clark said quietly, moving over to stand beside her. "It'll be just like old times."

With a deep breath, she looked at him for a moment and nodded slightly, glancing toward the door for a second before starting to type.


	4. Chapter 4

**Metropolis Airport -- May 18, 2010**

A few hours later found Oliver standing on the runway to Metropolis Airport. He swallowed hard, staring in the distance. He could still see Watchtower from there. He felt a hand on his arm and he drew in a breath, tearing his eyes away from the building to look down at Mia silently.

"Maybe you should give her a call?" Mia suggested, looking up at her mentor.

Oliver met her eyes and then looked back toward Watchtower once more. "Yeah," he murmured. "You're right. I can't leave without telling her."

Mia nodded and patted his shoulder before pulling her hand back, "maybe she's changed her mind, you never know."

"Maybe," he said quietly. But somehow, he really doubted it. "Why don't you get comfortable on the plane?" he suggested, offering her a small, faint smile.

"Yeah, I'll wait inside and give you privacy," Mia said with a smirk before turning around and starting up the stairs to the small jet.

He shook his head slightly, his lips curved upward in amusement. The smile faded from his face as he pulled his cell phone out and hit the first speed dial button.

Chloe looked away from the monitor and picked up her phone quickly, relieved to see Oliver's number on it, "hey, where are you?"

Oliver was quiet for a moment. "I'm at the airport," he said quietly. "Where are you?"

She stopped, "I'm... at the Watchtower," she told him carefully.

His chest tightened. "Yeah, I...figured that's probably where you were."

Pursing her lips together, she took a deep breath, her heart beating fast, she knew the answer to the question she was about to ask, but she wanted to know for sure, "why are you at the airport?"

He was silent for a few seconds. "Because I'm heading to Star City."

Chloe paused pulling the phone away from her ear then sitting down, considering her words for a moment before pulling the phone back to her ear, "to stay?"

"That was the plan," he said quietly, closing his eyes.

"I guess it was," she said just as quietly, rubbing a hand over her face, "I can't leave."

His chest tightened. "I didn't think you would." He opened his eyes once more and looked down at the ground, hoping the hurt he felt wasn't obvious.

She swallowed hard, quiet for a moment. Part of her wanted to go with him, just leave Metropolis and the Watchtower behind and start over, away from there, with Ollie and the team. But she knew she couldn't, not with Lois gone, Clark would be there by himself, and she had almost lost him once, because she hadn't been there, because she sent him off and didn't even keep an eye on him to make sure things had gone how they were supposed to be. Clark had told her all about Zod's betrayal and being stabbed, she should have been there for him.

"I'm sorry." She said finally, after a long moment of silence.

Oliver smiled, but it was mostly bitter. "I wasn't expecting you to have changed your mind, Chloe. You don't have to apologize. I just thought you should know I was leaving." If she really cared. He rubbed a hand over his face.

Chloe could hear the bitterness in his voice and she winced, holding her breath for a moment, it wasn't the first time things got ruined because she had to do what was right, she'd just hoped Oliver would understand, but she didn't blame him. "Are the boys coming to pick up the computers?" They were his, after all.

"Keep them," he said flatly. "The new place isn't up and running yet anyway. You'll need them there to help Clark."

Her stomach turned but she just nodded, doing her best to keep her voice void of everything she was feeling, and trying to think of this as no more than a business call, "thank you."

"Glad I could be of use," Oliver responded distantly. "I guess...if another apocalypse starts in Metropolis you'll let us know?"

With a deep breath, she rubbed her hand over her face, "of course. And you let me know if you need help with anything." Although, she doubted he would, she knew she was losing more than him, she was losing the team too, but she couldn't let it get to her now.

"Sure thing." His eyes stung and he forced himself to take a deep breath, his jaw tightening as he did his best to hold back all the things he wanted to say.

"Have a safe trip," she told him quietly, her voice finally cracking.

Oliver's chest tightened painfully and he had to shut his eyes. "I'll send you a text when we land," he said just as quietly.

"Thank you," Chloe kept her voice barely above a whisper to keep it from wavering again. But she managed to stop herself from telling him she'd miss him.

"Stay safe. Try not to...get into too much trouble." He swallowed hard. 

She sighed softly and closed her eyes, "you too."

"Sorta goes against both our natures not to," he answered quietly, rubbing a hand over his face. "But I'll do my best."

"I will too," she agreed, a broken smile appearing on her lips, "Ollie?"

He held his breath. "Yeah?"

"Let the others help you, okay?" She whispered, "don't try to do everything by yourself."

"That's how I generally always do things, Chloe," he said, his shoulders slumping. "Don't worry about me."

"That's not an option," she told him quietly, she told him that every time he told her not to worry about him, she just hoped he knew she still meant it.

Oliver drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "I should get going. The plane's waiting."

"Okay," she told him quietly, "I'll talk to you soon."

"Yeah," he said just as softly. "Goodbye, Chloe."

"Goodbye, Ollie," she told him, her chest tight.

He reluctantly pulled the phone away from his ear and closed it quietly, staring back at Watchtower across the horizon, a tear rolling down his cheek. He didn't bother brushing it away. He simply turned and headed for the jet.

* * *

**Queen Jet -- September 16, 2010**

Chloe had managed to doze off again after a long time of laying in the small bed thinking of everything that could have gone differently. But a hard jerk from the plane had her wide awake, she sat up and opened her eyes wide, looking around and when the plane jerked again, she stood up, holding on to the wall and then the doorway as she made it back to the main cabin.

"What's going on?"

Oliver winced a little as the plane jerked again and he looked up to see Chloe lurching to the side with the force from the movement. He was on his feet, instinctively reaching out to help steady her. "Turbulence. There's a little thunderstorm down below," he told her, resting his hands on her shoulders.

Her eyes widened and she held on to him, placing her hands on his sides, "probably should sit down."

"And fasten our seat belts," he added in agreement, not thinking twice before leading her over to the seat he'd been sitting in.

The plane jerked again and Chloe all but fell on the seat, she looked up immediately and held on to his arm to steady him, "you okay?"

"I'm fine," he assured her, sliding into the seat right next to her, and reaching across to fasten her seatbelt, then fastening his own as well. "This is one thing I hate about flying."

"Thanks," she told him and glanced out of the window, just to make sure they were still far from the ground, "I'm not a big fan either."

He reached down and gave her hand a gentle squeeze without thinking about it. "We'll be fine."

Chloe squeezed his hand too, not even realizing this was the closest they'd been to each other in months, "I know."

Oliver met her eyes for a moment, then swallowed hard, dropping his gaze to their hands.

She watched him for a moment longer, her eyes a little wider and this time, it had nothing to do with the turbulence, so she took a deep breath and looked out the window again.

* * *

**Watchtower, Metropolis -- June 30, 2010**

She paced the floor of the Watchtower, phone in hand as she glanced time and time again at the main screen, where she still had the message she had been staring at for over half an hour open. She knew she was going to call him, there was no way out this time. He had to know and they had to figure things out, she couldn't do it on her own and hopefully he wouldn't take the information and leave her out of it. Not that she could blame him if he did.

But they hadn't spoken since he left. They exchanged a few text messages here and there and she did talk to Victor and Bart a couple of times, but that was about the only interaction she'd had with all of them since the team moved to Star City. And she knew it had been her choice, her wrong choice, to let them leave without her and she was too ashamed of making the same mistake over and over again to ask him to let her back on the team.

The only problem was that this was big, much bigger than her issues and she hoped bigger than the pain she'd caused him.

Chloe finally stopped and stood in front of the monitor, taking a deep breath and pressing his number on speed dial before holding the phone up to her ear, her heart beating fast against her chest.

Oliver glared at AC again, then shook his head, stalking out of the training room before answering his phone, not bothering to look at the caller ID first. "What?" he snapped. 

Her eyes widened at his answer, she blinked, taken aback for a moment, "Oliver? Is this a bad time?"

All the air left his lungs in a rush at the sound of her voice. "No, I just--sorry, I didn't mean to take your head off. I..." _Way to make an ass of yourself again, Queen,_ he thought, raking a hand through his hair. "I didn't look at the caller ID. What's going on? Are you okay? Is there trouble?"

"I'm okay," she told him, taking a deep breath, "is something wrong?"  
"Just...bad day. Nothing to worry about. What's going on?" He swallowed hard, moving farther away from the training room.

Chloe considered for a moment then rubbed a hand over her face, "I might have a lead on the robots..." better get down to business.

He paused. Right. Work-related. He shouldn't have hoped differently. "Oh?"

"I found a prototype that was similar... but I haven't, I couldn't do much more than research on the place." She admitted quietly.

"Why not?" he asked uncertainly, a frown furrowing his brow. He couldn't imagine Chloe not being able to do research on anything she wanted considering who she was.

"The lab it came from is in Germany." She explained quietly.

Oliver was silent for a moment. "What's the name of the lab? What else do we know?"

"Underground project, I don't have anything concrete, I stumbled upon it on accident. The project name was Fährtensucher, which means tracker." She told him quickly, pursing her lips together.

His frown deepened. "Tracker," he echoed, moving to sit down at his desk. "And as far as we know, the only place that they've turned up was the building belonging to Queen Industries?"

"As far as I can tell," she told him, taking a deep breath and started to pace again, "I've been looking at satellite images of that night for weeks, I can't find them anywhere else, I can't even see those things entering the building, someone placed them there."

Oliver paused for a long moment. "What are you thinking?" he asked quietly, although he had a pretty good idea already.

"I don't know," she lied, she wasn't ready to tell him the one name that kept popping into her head, "I guess we need to identify the source before we can figure out who planted them."

"You think it was Mercy." It wasn't a question.

Chloe stilled then let out her breath slowly, "she's a possibility."

"Was," he corrected her, staring down at the floor. "I guess that's what we should hope for then. At least if it was her, she's not someone we have to worry about."

She sighed softly, rubbing her forehead, the last thing she wanted was to bring Tess up the first time she spoke to him after so long and hurt him more than she already had, "like I said, I don't have anything concrete."

"Do you have the coordinates for this place in Germany? I could send Bart to check it out." He paused. "Unless you'd rather send Clark."

"You should send Bart." She said quickly. Too quickly. So she added, "I can send you the information."

Oliver cocked his head to the side. "Are you all right, Chloe? Really?" 

"Yeah, I'm okay," she told him quietly, starting to move things around the touch-pad on her desk, "I'm sending you everything I have." That way, if he didn't want to talk to her, he wouldn't have to.

He fell silent for a moment. "How are things in Metropolis?" he asked quietly.

"Quiet..." it was the best answer she could come up with, and it wasn't exactly a lie. "How are things in Star City?"

"I guess Clark's got everything under control there then," Oliver responded.

Chloe pulled the phone away from her ear and sighed deeply, straightening her back and rubbing a hand over her face for a moment before pulling the phone back, "Clark is gone." She said flatly after a long pause.

Oliver sat forward in his chair. "Gone as in went to visit Lois in Kenya?" he asked cautiously. He knew Lois had kept her job there because she'd emailed him a few days ago. 

"He left for his training at the fortress three weeks ago."

"Didn't he already do that?" he asked, honestly confused. "Wasn't that what he was doing this time last year?"

"He didn't finish it, the training will take years," she told him, her voice void of emotions except for a hint of bitterness, "when Jor-El brought him back, finishing his training was the price he'd have to pay."

"But he said he was back to help Metropolis. He just up and left?"

"Oh no," she said, a hollow smile appearing on her lips, "he gave me a full week warning this time."

"So you're there alone." Oliver rose to his feet, his jaw tightening.

"You don't have to worry about me," she told him, keeping her voice as neutral as possible.

"Too late for that," he answered, drawing in a breath. "Do you want to come out here?"

"I don't want to get in the way of things," she told him quietly, "it was my choice to stay."   
"You wouldn't be in the way, Chloe. You're still part of the team." His stomach tightened as he began to feel a glimmer of hope.

Chloe held her breath, her chest tightening at his words, she had let him down, she had hurt him and he was still worrying about her and wanting her to be included, "I guess it would make it easier to work on this if the whole team was involved."

Oliver shut his eyes. "Good, that's...yeah, you're right. It'll be easier if you're here with us. Do you want me to send the jet for you? Or...do you need time to pack or..." He didn't really understand why words seemed to be failing him, but his heart was beating quickly.

"No, I can fly commercial, I will... grab a few things and see if I can catch a flight tomorrow morning." She told him quietly, she didn't want him to have to do anything for her. She should have been on that plane with him and Mia in the first place.

"Are you sure? It's not a problem, Chloe." He held his breath.

"Yeah, I'm sure, there's no sense in you sending the plane, I'm looking at flights now." She told him as she looked at the information on the screen.

He was quiet for a moment. "Are you...do you need anything?" His voice was almost inaudible. "If you don't want to fly, I can send Bart to get you and your things."

"I'm okay," she assured him, "I really am, Ollie," she told him quietly, and she did feel better now that he had invited her to come to California, at least it didn't sound like he hated her for making the wrong choices again.

"All right." He exhaled slowly. "Then I guess...just let me or one of the others know when your flight is scheduled to land and someone will be there to pick you up."

"There's a morning flight landing at 12:15 tomorrow, do you think you could-- would that work?" She asked quietly, not wanting him to feel like he had to pick her up but also not wanting him to feel like she didn't want him to be the one to pick her up.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's fine, Chloe. It's not a problem," he said softly.

"Okay," she took a deep breath, "I guess I should go pack."

"And I guess I'll see you tomorrow." He paused. "When you get here." He swallowed hard.

"Thanks," she told him quietly, "for being okay with me coming."

His chest tightened at her words. "You always have a place on the team, Chloe. I'm sorry if I didn't reassure you of that much."

"It was stupid of me for thinking otherwise," she admitted quietly, holding her breath and sitting back down after a moment and clearing her throat, "I got the ticket."

"That was fast." He smiled a bit, raking a hand through his hair.

"Only takes a couple of clicks to spend money online," she told him, her voice a lot lighter than she felt.

"I suppose that's true." He drew in a breath. "So...see you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, I'll be there a little after noon." She agreed.

"All right. Have a safe flight," he said softly.

"Thanks, see you soon," she told him, "bye, Ollie."

"Bye, Chloe." Oliver swallowed hard and slowly hung up his phone.

She hung up too and sighed deeply, that went better than it could have, she supposed. At least he was still talking to her. A moment later, she stood up and stretched before picking up her keys, she had to pick up a few more summery clothes in Smallville before making her way to California.

"We're going to have to clean out that spare room," Oliver announced as he walked back into the training room where the others were gathered.

"What's going on?" Mia demanded the second Oliver walked back into the room, hands on her hips.

He turned his head to look at her. "Chloe's coming to stay here. Her flight will get in around noon. So we need to get busy," he said, glancing at the others. 

AC stared at him, surprised, but simply nodded in agreement. 

"I'll get my extra equipment out of there," Victor said, heading out the door.

Bart raised his eyebrows and cocked his head slightly, "yeah?"

" _Why_?" Mia asked with a frown, she had broken Ollie's heart and now she thought she could just call him and they all had to bend over backwards for her? Mia didn't _think_ so.

Oliver met her gaze. "Well, first of all, she has a lead on our not so friendly robots and we're going to need her help if we're going to get to the bottom of it. Second of all..." He drew in a breath and looked at Bart, then over at Dinah and AC. "Clark left for his training. Apparently this is going to take _years_."

"Clark left _again_?" Bart said with a frown.

Dinah raised a single eyebrow at Oliver then glanced at AC, exchanging a look with him but remaining silent.

"So what?" Mia demanded, crossing her arms over her chest, "she can just send whatever she has and we can take care of it." 

"Yes, he left again," he said, more patience in his tone than he'd had with any of them--with the exception of Mia--in the last month. "And she's coming because I asked her to, Mia."

Mia pursed her lips together and shook her head, giving Oliver a look, "way to be an idiot," she said bluntly, "because whenever Clark is back, she's just gonna run to him again and you're gonna go back to being the same mess you've been all these months." Mia didn't hold back, she wasn't taught to, and she didn't like to watch Oliver be this... ghost of himself like he'd been in the past few months. On top of that, she knew he was drinking heavily and he'd been an asshole to the rest of the team and that reminded her way too much of how her dad used to be.

With one more glare at him, and without looking at the others, she stormed off without another word.

He shut his eyes, letting her go for the time being. He knew her well enough to know she was going to need time to cool off and calm down before he tried to explain things to her. He opened his eyes once more, not surprised to find the rest of them staring at him. 

"Things are complicated, but Chloe's always still been a part of this team. I hope I don't need to remind anyone of that." His voice was quiet and without waiting for a response, he turned and headed away.

Bart blinked a couple of times and looked over at the others, "should we... do something?"

"Like what?" AC asked, glancing over at him, and then back at Dinah.

Dinah shook her head, "no, just let him deal with Mia and do our best to make sure things are as comfortable as can be when Chloe gets here, their private lives are none of our business and like Ollie said, she's part of the team."

AC nodded slightly, offering her a smile before looking back at Bart. "That room's pretty packed. Wanna help me get it cleared out?"

"Man," Bart smirked, raising his eyebrows, "I'll be done with it before you blink."

"Yeah, well let's see you haul a bed in here by yourself," he said with a smirk in return, heading for the door.

"That's what Cyborg is for," Bart said with a shrug and walked with AC, he missed having Chloe around and he'd talk to Mia too, when no one was looking.


	5. Chapter 5

**Frankfurt International Airport, Germany -- September 16, 2010**

It felt like a lifetime later when the plane finally landed in the Frankfurt airport, the turbulence had been bad for the last hour of the trip and Chloe was incredibly relieved to be stepping out of the small plane without a concussion or worse. She had her laptop bag with her and her purse, and she knew it was useless to say she'd carry her own luggage, so she watched as Oliver's single crew member aside from the pilot pulled them out of the back of the plane.

With a deep breath, she wrapped her jacket around herself, it was only September, but it was particularly chilly outside, she should have checked on the weather, "what is the plan?" She asked Oliver, stepping closer to him because of the noise of the engines of the other planes.

He glanced around, then back at her, taking the luggage from the crew member. "Check into the hotel," he told her, speaking loudly so she could hear him over all the noise.

"I'll set up in my room," she told him as they started toward the waiting car, "we can go over the information before we start the search."

Oliver nodded slightly and began to put the bags in the trunk of the car before turning to glance at her once more. "Sounds good to me." He gazed at her for a moment.

Chloe nodded and smiled a little at him then at the man who was holding the car door open for her before ducking quickly into the car. Only partially due to the cold.

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, taking a moment before he crawled into the car beside her. This was going to be a lot more difficult than he'd thought.

* * *

**Star City Headquarters -- July 1, 2010**

"You can't just not talk to me forever, Kid." Oliver folded his arms across his chest and gazed at Mia intently as she sat at the small desk in her bedroom. "You live here and so do I. Our paths are going to cross, you know?"

"I have Calculus to worry about," she said stubbornly, keeping her eyes on her book.

"It's July, and school doesn't start until almost September. Try another one." He didn't budge from the doorway.

Mia paused for a moment then sighed, slamming the book shut but not turning to look at him, "is she here yet?"

"No. Not yet. Her flight doesn't get in for another hour." He gazed intently at the back of her head.

"Well, don't expect me to be nice to her." She said firmly, leaning back against her chair.

Oliver's jaw tensed a little and he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. "We need to talk. Because you don't know the whole story."

Mia pursed her lips together and turned her chair around to face him, crossing her arms over her chest, "I don't need to, I know enough."

"Yes, you do need to. Because if it wasn't for Chloe Sullivan, you and I never would have met, and I'd be six feet under." His tone was sharp, serious.

His tone did make her raise an eyebrow, but Mia didn't move otherwise. Just waited.

"A couple months before we met, I was in a really dark place. I was doing dangerous, stupid, selfish things. I didn't give a damn about anything. I burned my uniform. I nearly..." He took a breath and looked away.

"Nearly what? If you're gonna tell me, don't leave anything out of it," she told him with a frown.

Oliver looked back at her intently. "I would have killed myself. I had given up," he said bluntly. "I was standing on a bomb--literally, at an address to some of Luthorcorp's stockholders. I was told if I stepped off the platform, I'd be blown to pieces, along with everyone in the crowd." His jaw tightened a little. "The crowd got out, and I stepped off the pressure plate."

Mia's eyes widened and she sat up, but stayed quiet, even if her posture was obviously more tense this time around. She knew that if it wasn't for Oliver, she'd still be out there, who else would have wanted to help a hooker?

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, leaning back against her door. "I was a wreck," he said, more quietly this time, but still honest. "Chloe...set up an intervention. She was the only one who was able to get through to me, because she knew me _that_ well. And for whatever reason, after everything that had happened, she still cared." He gazed at her. "She saved my life, Mia. Literally. And regardless of...everything else that happened..." He swallowed hard. "I'll never turn her away. I can't."

She paused for a moment and considered what Oliver was saying then frowned a little, "well, that's good that she kicked your ass when you needed someone to," she gave, dropping her hands to her lap, "but that doesn't give her the right to just walk out on you like that, you were _counting_ on her to help you with this and then she just picked the big dork instead." Not that Mia could understand _why_ Chloe would, so the other guy could move fast. So could Bart. Ollie was still much better than that Clark.

Oliver's gaze softened. He moved over hesitantly and sat down on the edge of her bed, looking down at his hands. "Things were complicated. I let my emotions get the best of me where Chloe was involved and that...was never part of the deal," he admitted.

"What deal?" She asked, cocking her head a little.

He swallowed hard, not looking at her. "We had a...no strings attached kind of agreement," he said quietly.

Mia gave him a look then smirked, "yeah, right."

He glanced up. "I'm serious."

"You can't really believe that," she told him, she had only seen Chloe a few times before, but she had seen the way she looked at Oliver and vice-versa, "I saw the way you looked at each other, there were strings."

"That's the point," Oliver said softly. "There wasn't supposed to be. It was exactly what she didn't want."

"Yeah, but they were coming from both sides," she told him and gave him a look that told him the information was incredibly obvious, "I really did think she was gonna tell you she was coming when you called her from the airport," Mia admitted.

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "I didn't," he told her.

"Why not?" She asked with a frown.

"Because I know her as well as she knows me. And I knew she wasn't going to leave Clark." He smiled faintly, but it was mostly just sad.

"Why not?" Mia repeated, "she had made plans with _you_."

He was quiet for a moment, considering her question. "Because despite whatever she felt for me...Clark's always been her first priority, Mia. I shouldn't have been surprised."

"Well," Mia frowned and crossed her arms over her chest again, "serves her right that he left, then."

"No, it doesn't," he said quietly. "Clark might be a great superhero, but he's a lousy friend." There was a hint of anger in his voice.

"And yet Chloe stayed with him, if she had come with _you_ , you wouldn't have left, she left you just like Clark left her and if you get to be angry at Clark, I get to be angry at Chloe."

"No, it's different, Mia." He shook his head. "Chloe's incredibly loyal and...she loves Clark." He gazed at her. "They've been best friends for a decade. It's not the same thing."

"So what? You expect me to forget that she broke your heart and let her walk all over you and not say anything about it?" 

Oliver sighed softly. "I don't expect you to forget anything. But yes. I don't want you to say anything to her about it. She's a good person, Mia. And she's been through a lot." 

Mia considered him for a long moment then sighed, annoyed and rolled her eyes like a good sixteen year old, "I'll _try_ , but if she hurts you more, I get first dibs on kicking her ass."

"You won't have to," he promised quietly, rising to his feet.

"We'll see." She told him.

He paused, gazing at her. "It's business. Chloe and I..." He shook his head. "There isn't a Chloe and I anymore." His chest tightened. "So it'll be fine. But I do appreciate that you care." He smiled faintly.

She managed to stop herself from rolling her eyes again, she knew that that would change if Chloe as much as smiled different at Oliver, he was wrapped around her finger and if there was one thing Mia understood was how guys worked. He wouldn't even think about the consequences or how much Chloe would hurt him if the other woman decided she wanted Oliver back. Chloe just better not think she could hurt Oliver again and get away with it.

"I'm gonna get ready to go pick her up," he said softly. "Thanks for listening." He headed for the door.

"Yeah," Mia nodded, "have fun."

"Be back soon." He gave her a little wave and disappeared.

* * *

**Hessischer Hof Hotel - Frankfurt, Germany -- September 16, 2010**

Chloe shifted on her shoes, adjusting the strap of her laptop bag as she watched Oliver and the concierge going back and forth in German, too tired to really try to make sense of any of the words they were saying. They had been standing there for over five minutes, she had gotten the confirmation by email earlier, she couldn't understand what the hold up was.

Oliver reluctantly took the keys the other man was holding out and sighed softly, watching him head away. Then he slowly turned around. "There was a mix up with the rooms."

"A mix up?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

He didn't quite meet her eyes. "One room, two queens. Not...two rooms with one queen."

"Oh?" Her eyes widened slightly and she pursed her lips together. Great. Like going on a trip, just the two of them after... _everything_ wasn't already awkward enough.

Oliver was silent for a moment. "We can try to find another hotel." 

"It might be easier this way anyway, we have work to do," she told him, "if it doesn't bother you, I'm fine with it," she wasn't, but she was exhausted, and it was going to be a long night.

"Yeah, it's...I mean, we're both adults here. Not a big deal." Except it was. It was a huge deal. Fortunately for him, he had one hell of a poker face.

And Chloe saw right through it, but she knew he could see right through her half-smile too, so at least, they were even, "okay, then, lets just... get our stuff upstairs."

"Right. Let's get to work." He swallowed hard, picking up the luggage and heading for the elevator.

Chloe took a deep breath and watched him for a moment then followed him. It was going to be a long stay.

* * *

**Star City Airport -- July 1, 2010**

Oliver should have realized that making an appearance at the airport would draw attention considering he never went there and actually _waited_ for a commercial flight. He didn't appreciate the gawking and he did his best to ignore it. His shoulders were tense, his jaw tight as he tried to brace himself for seeing Chloe for the first time in over a month and a half. He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck as people began to filter off the plane he knew she was on. 

Chloe made her way through the crowd, after picking up her luggage and wished she had chosen to wear heels. She tried to be comfortable to fly, but her height didn't exactly help with trying to find her ride. She took a deep breath and pushed her way past a couple that apparently needed a room _soon_ if they didn't want to be arrested. Not even sure who she was looking for for a moment longer and then... she saw him and she felt like her heart was suddenly stuck in her throat. She should have known he was going to come himself, and he looked even more uncomfortable than she expected.

With a deep breath, she tugged on her heavy suitcase and tried to make her way over to where he was standing. Not really noticing that most of the eyes in the room were on him, too.

Oliver spotted her as the crowd parted for a brief moment and the breath caught in his throat. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, really. That in a month's time she'd have changed in some drastic way? But she hadn't. She looked exactly the same as when he'd last seen her. Beautiful, as always. "Hey," he said softly as she made her way over to him.

She let out her breath and smiled softly up at him, "hey," she said quietly, "I didn't realize it would be so busy, summer vacations, I guess."

He managed a small smile. "Yeah, you're probably right," he agreed, reaching down and taking her suitcases. 

"Thank you," she told him, only letting him take one, "this one isn't too heavy, I can handle it."

"You sure?" he asked quietly. When she nodded, he drew in a breath. "How was the flight?"

"Not bad," she told him as they started walking toward the exit, doing her best to sound casual, "Kansas was supposed to have some tornado weather tonight so it's a good thing I caught an early flight."

Oliver raised an eyebrow at that. "Pretty sure you won't have to worry about that here. We don't really get many tornadoes. It's the earthquakes and wildfires you have to watch out for." A faint smirk touched his lips.

"Very comforting," she told him, smiling slightly and raising her eyebrows.

"That's me." He smirked, leading her through the airport.

Chloe followed, shifting the other suitcase between her hands every few steps, "how is everyone?"

He glanced back at her and wordlessly reached out and took the suitcase from her before she had the chance to protest. "Everyone's fine," he said quietly. "Still trying to get used to living all together."

She sighed softly, "thanks," but didn't protest, there was no point. "I'm sure that has been fun."

"It's good you didn't say 'I bet that's been fun.'" He managed a small smile but it didn't reach his eyes.

"No betting here," she assured him, trying for a small smile too, but her chest tightened when she saw the look in his eyes.

"It's...been an experience." Especially considering the only person he was used to actually living with was Mia, who'd been staying with him at the clock tower for months.

"How is Mia?" She asked quietly, she had spoken to the team members once or twice in the past month and half, but she didn't have contact with the teenager.

Oliver was silent for a moment. "All right. Adjusting to California pretty well."

"She likes it here, then," Chloe nodded a little, Mia had been excited about the beach.

"Yeah, I think so. She'll probably like it less when school starts."  
"Not as much time for the the beach," Chloe agreed, "she only has another year or so to go, right?"

"Yeah. She'll be done in May," he said quietly, nodding a little as he exited the airport.

"Not much longer then," she said with a nod, and a part of her couldn't help but be sad that they had resorted to small talk, but a bigger part of her was just relieved he was talking to her at all.

He led her to the car that he'd driven, and tucked her belongings securely into the trunk before unlocking the doors. "Yeah. She'll be glad to be done, I'm sure."

Chloe slid into the passenger's seat of the car and set her purse on her lap, sighing softly as she took a moment until Oliver made his way into the car too.

"Headquarters isn't quite finished yet," he admitted softly. "But we're getting there." He started the car.

"I can't wait to see it," she told him sincerely as she fastened her seatbelt.

"It's not as big as Watchtower," he warned, not bothering with his seatbelt, simply shifting his car into drive.  
"Watchtower doesn't have the beach feet away from it, I don't think the size bothers anyone," she told him, smiling slightly.

"Hopefully not." A small smile touched his lips.

Chloe smiled a little then glanced over out the side window, watching the beach for a moment, she wasn't sure what to expect from her stay in Star City, she didn't even know how long she was going to stay, but the beginning was better than she had hoped for, "thanks for picking me up," she said quietly.

"You didn't really think I'd make you walk, did you?" His voice was light but his hands tightened a fraction on the steering wheel.

"Pretty sure I would have to ditch the suitcases if that was the case," she tried to keep her voice light too.

"Yeah, what did you fill those with anyway? Rocks?" he joked.

"Well, the bigger one is footwear only," she teased, smirking slightly, and although she felt a little more relaxed, she also felt like reaching over and taking his hand.

"Someday you'll have to explain to me the Sullivan-Lane obsession with shoes." He smirked.

She raised her eyebrows and shook her head a little, "I'm not nearly as bad as my cousin," she assured him, "and honestly? That weight? Were mostly files that I thought could help us with the case," she admitted. She had brought them since a lot of the files were still in paper form and not digitalized.

"Oh." Somehow he wasn't really surprised. She may have loved shoes, but when it came down to it, Chloe was the most practical, down-to-earth woman he'd met.

"Just don't tell Lois I chose paper over shoes," she joked quietly, trying to keep the mood light.

"Considering she's across the globe, I don't think you'll have to worry about her wrath," he teased.

"Pretty sure she can desert me over the internet," Chloe said, smirking softly and looking at him out of the corner of her eyes.

"Pretty sure she wouldn't." _Unlike some people in your life._

Chloe noticed the slight change in his expression and took a deep breath, "no, she wouldn't," she agreed quietly and looked out the window again.

Oliver drew in a breath. "Are you hungry? I could stop someplace to grab some lunch." 

"I snacked on the plane," she told him, which wasn't a complete lie, coffee and and handful of peanuts counted as snacking, but her stomach was slightly upset because she'd been so tense since the previous day, when she spoke to him, "but if you wanna stop somewhere, I don't mind."

"Coffee doesn't constitute a meal, Chloe." He glanced at her sideways with a knowing look. He wondered how many times they'd had this same conversation in the last six months.

She couldn't help but smile slightly at the familiarity of his words, "first of all, I said snack, second of all, there were peanuts involved..."

He grimaced at that. "Sounds filling. Also breath-taking. Literally."

"If you _insist_ on lunch, I suppose I could eat something else, but I will let you know that peanuts are filling, well, when there isn't a possibility that they would kill you." She added, knowing about his allergy to the nuts.

Oliver smirked. "I'll have to take your word on that part, Chloe."

"I know," she smirked back, "which makes my argument unbeatable."

"Cheater. Using my weakness against me." He glanced at her sideways.

"Only when you're dissing my coffee habits," she told him, meeting his gaze and smiling slightly. She had missed him a lot in the past month and half, she had grown so used to having him there, seeing him or at least talking to him once a day, but just now she was realizing how much she had missed their light-hearted teasing, even if her chest was still tight, this felt familiar, comfortable, despite everything that was left unspoken between the two of them.

"Addiction," he responded with a grin. "Your coffee _addiction_. But you should be happy to hear that we have twenty-two, possibly twenty-three kinds of coffee stocked at headquarters, and a cappuccino machine," he informed her. Of course before he'd talked to her on the phone last night, they'd had a plain coffee maker and two kinds of coffee: regular and decaf. But that wasn't anything she needed to know.

"Semantics," she said with a wave of her hand then paused a little, raising her eyebrows slowly, "you do?" Sure, the rest of the team would have coffee sometimes, well, mostly Dinah. Bart wasn't allowed any, he didn't need the extra energy, Vic said it made him feel 'rusty' and AC wasn't a fan of it, like Ollie.

"Well, Mia likes coffee," he said, wondering if he'd already given too much away.

"Oh," Chloe smiled softly and nodded, that made more sense, even if a lot of people would argue that sixteen was too young to like coffee so much, Chloe knew that to be a lie, besides, Mia had been through a lot of things that made her a lot older and a lot more mature than her age, "I didn't know that."

He was quiet for a moment, feeling like he should give her some kind of warning. "Chloe..." He shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "Mia's kind of..."

Chloe raised her eyebrows a little and looked over at him, the fact that he was even more uncomfortable now was clear, "kind of?"

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, glancing over at her. "She's not exactly happy about...things."

"Oh," she paused and frowned for a moment, "about... me?" Because last she'd seen Mia, while they weren't close, they had a good time ganging up on Ollie and teasing him.

"About all of it," he said carefully.

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded a little looking away then glancing over at him, "maybe I should stay somewhere else, the headquarters are her home and I don't want her to be uncomfortable."

"No," Oliver said quietly, glancing at her again. "We've got a room ready for you. She'll get over it."

Pursing her lips together, she looked at him for a moment then sighed softly, leaning back against the seat, the little that their banter had helped her relax was now gone.

"I did my best to explain things to her and I think she understood it. I'm just...I felt like you should have some warning."

"Thanks for letting me know," she said with a nod.

"Sure," he said quietly, focusing on the road ahead and finishing the remainder of the drive in relative silence. He parked the car outside of the building he'd had built for their headquarters. "Like I said, it's...nothing like Watchtower."

Chloe looked out of the window and smiled slightly, from the outside, it looked like a regular house, two stories, and she couldn't see much more from where she was sitting, "it looks nice, homey," she told him, glancing over at him.

Oliver nodded a little. "I hope you'll like it," he said quietly, shutting off the car and stepping out of it.

She got out too and took a deep breath, stretching and looking around. She had only been to Star City once before, right after Jimmy had been attacked by Doomsday and that felt like a lifetime ago. She hadn't actually seen much more than the hospital and what little she could of the city on the way from and to the airport then, so it did feel like a completely new place to see, even if she had no intentions of wasting time with sight-seeing this time around either.

He moved around to the back of the car, unlocking the trunk and pulling out her luggage, nodding toward the front walk. "Just put your hand against the front panel. It's a fingerprint security system," he told her.

Chloe looked over at him and nodded a little, lifting her hand and seeing her codename appearing on the small screen, followed by a green light and the sound of the door unlocking, she pushed it open, "I see Victor has been busy..."

Oliver smiled a little at that. "Yeah, he has. And I'm pretty sure that I heard Bart and AC talking about a secret handshake." He followed her inside the house.

"So this is _exactly_ like summer camp?" She teased quietly then paused, looking around the main room, her eyes widening a little, "it looks a lot smaller from the outside."

The first part of her comment made him smile sincerely. "Basically." He followed her gaze. "I've been told it's all in the decorating techniques." He shrugged a little.

Chloe smiled a little at him then stepped forward, poking her head inside the room closest to the door, which happened to be the kitchen, she could see a training room across the hall from it and a living area toward the back that seemed to open to a back yard, "it's quiet here," she commented, glancing at him over her shoulder. Quiet, but not Watchtower quiet, it didn't feel empty, the whole house had been decorated in light colors and she could hear birds and the ocean outside, it was a peaceful kind of quiet, not a lonely kind of quiet.

"Give it a few minutes. Someone will start yelling," he joked, only half-kidding. He nodded toward the stairs. "Your room's upstairs, second door on the right."

She nodded a little and looked around for a moment longer before starting up the stairs, now that she did, she could hear voices coming from somewhere down the hall on the upstairs floor, but she followed Oliver's directions and went to the room he said was hers instead, opening the door and pausing, her eyes widening a little in surprise as she found it completely decorated, a lot of bright colors, especially oranges, some green, mixed in with white, it wasn't huge, but it was big, a Queen sized bed in one end, a really big desk in the other, a door that Chloe guessed would lead to a bathroom and a massive bouquet of tulips sitting on the bedside table, "wow..."

He smiled faintly, the words _welcome home_ on the tip of his tongue, though he didn't dare say them. Not considering he had no real idea of where things between them stood exactly. And not knowing how she'd take them. He slipped past her into the room and set her luggage down before turning to face her. "There's a pool in the courtyard, too," he told her. And you're right next door to Dinah. I'm down the hall to the left, third door. AC and Victor's rooms are past mine, Bart's is across the hall. Mia's across from Dinah."

Chloe placed her purse and laptop bag over the desk then looked over at him, "thank you," she said sincerely, looking around the room then back at him, "this is really nice, you really didn't have to do all this, Oliver." Her chest got tight and she couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed that he had done all of this for her and that he'd known her so well to pick a room that looked exactly like something she would have picked for herself, she wanted to step closer and wrap her arms around him but she held her hands together instead, she didn't know what was going on between them, but considering they hadn't spoken in a month and a half, she had decided that was a pretty clear hint that their 'agreement' was off.

For the briefest of moments, there was a hint of sadness, of warmth and sorrow and loss in his eyes, but it was replaced almost immediately by another quick flash--this time a 'deer in the headlights' look. "Well, it wasn't just me. I mean, the others helped out too. Actually they did most of it."

The changes in his expression were so fast, she really couldn't make out what they meant, but at his quick explanation she nodded a little, he didn't want her to think he had done all of this himself because he didn't want her to get the wrong idea. "Well, them too, of course," she nodded again, her expression more reserved and walked over to the window to look outside. The back of the house was to the beach and she could see the pool and the ocean out of her window, "you guys didn't have to go through all this trouble."

 _Yes, we did_ , he thought, his heart heavy as he gazed at the back of her head. "We're glad you're here." His voice was soft.

"I really need to go say hi," she said after a long time, finally turning to see him again, "but I think I need to change first, these clothes are just not California friendly," she told him, tugging on her shirt a little, and smiling slightly. But she was lying, her clothes were perfectly comfortable, she really just felt like she needed a little extra time before facing everyone else, seeing Oliver had just become a lot more overwhelming and she had all these feelings running through her and she needed some time to lock them all safely away so no one, especially Oliver, would notice anything.  
And that was his sign to leave. He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, nodding a little. "Yeah, of course. I'll uh, I'll just give you some privacy." He gazed at her a moment later, then lowered his eyes to the floor before turning to leave.

She held his gaze for a second then nodded, looking down too, "thank you, I won't be long." She told him then watched as he stepped out and closed the door behind him, sighing deeply in relief once she was by herself, she took a couple of steps back and sat down on what she found to be an incredibly comfortable bed, much like the one Ollie had at the clock tower, which every time she slept there, she felt the need to tell him it was the most comfortable bed ever. Of course, mostly, she just found she slept better when she slept with him.

Chloe rubbed her hands over her face and shook her head, thoughts like that were exactly what she had to avoid. She wasn't there because of _them_ , she was there for a reason, a mission and she had to remind herself to focus on that and that alone if she didn't want to permanently screw things up.

Oliver stood outside her room for a long moment, then slowly headed down the stairs once more, raking a hand through his hair. He figured he'd better start making lunch before Bart tried to come up with some kind of weird concoction using a variety of ingredients in the kitchen. Plus it would help take his mind off Chloe.


	6. Chapter 6

**[Hessischer Hof Hotel](http://www.hessischer-hof.de/en/home), Germany -- September 17, 2010**

Chloe was even more uncomfortable about their room situation once they walked into the room itself. The room was big, but it was crowded, overly decorated and just very busy. Normally she would have been glad to see that the hotel had some personality and it didn't feel like a generic hotel room and she could be anywhere in the US, but right now, everything was irritating her.

The beds were barely two feet apart and although she was glad to see a good-sized table in the opposite corner for the room, something she would need to get her maps spread out, there was just one small couch and she felt like she might as well be stuck in the plane with him again.

Oliver swallowed hard as he looked around the room, a little dazed by just how decorated it was. And Oliver had seen a _lot_ of hotel rooms in his nearly thirty years. "There's something to be said for a little wall space without decor," he mumbled, dropping their luggage by the closet and moving over to the windows. He opened the curtains to let the sun in, relaxing a little as the glass gave the room the appearance of being bigger than it was.

Chloe didn't say anything at his comment, but felt a little better when he opened the window. She took off her shoes and immediately walked over to the table, placing her laptop bag on it, "do you have any idea what time it is here?"

He glanced at his watch and calculated the time difference in his head. "Two p.m.," he told her, changing his watch so it was on the correct time for Germany.

She nodded a little, booting up her computer and pulling one of the chairs before sitting down, rubbing her temple a little. They had been chasing the lab responsible for the bots for almost two months now, but it seemed to have vanished into thin air. They had sent Bart to Germany several times, but despite running, literally, the entire country, he had come back empty handed every time. So now Chloe and Oliver were there to try and see if they could find any hints that could lead to someone or something connected to the labs. Chloe because she could do the research, Oliver because he was the one member on the team who could speak German fluently.

It made perfect sense for them to be the ones doing this particular job, but being alone with him after everything was the last thing she wanted.

Oliver glanced at her sideways and let out a breath before closing his eyes and turning his head back toward the window.

Things were not turning out the way he'd hoped.

Not even close.

* * *

**Star City Headquarters -- September 14, 2010**

They were supposed to be leaving for Germany in three, well, two days now since it was nearly four in the morning, and they still didn't have anything concrete to look into, just an address that no longer existed. Chloe walked across the computer room and picked up her coffee, taking another sip.

The room was a smaller version of the Watchtower, but even more powerful. The network and the system Vic had built with the addition of the dedicated satellite Ollie had bought, there was no place in the world that couldn't be seen from the second floor of the modest house in Star City.

She watched as the computer worked for a long moment then walked over to the small couch and sat down with a sigh, she had been in there for over twelve hours and she might as well have been out at the beach with the amount of information she had found.

"Still no luck?" Oliver asked softly, stepping into the doorway and leaning against the frame, his eyes sleepy.

Chloe jumped a little at his voice, she thought everyone was sleeping already. Shaking her head, she let her breath out slowly, "no, nothing. Did I wake you?"

"I haven't been to bed," he told her, shaking his head, as well.

"Oh," she looked up at him and nodded a little, "you should get some rest..."

"And let you sit here alone in the dark?" Oliver smiled faintly. "Seems wrong."

She smiled a little and shook her head, "I don't think I'm very good company right now."

He shrugged a little and stepped inside, closing the door so their conversation wouldn't wake anyone. "Yeah, me either."

Chloe watched him for a moment then shifted on the couch, making room for him if he wanted to sit down, "what's on your mind?" She asked quietly, drinking the rest of her coffee, but keeping her eyes on him.

He shook his head, moving over to sit down beside her. "Nothing specific," he said softly, glancing over at her. "Just too tired to sleep." He gave her a wan smile.

"I guess we can become zombies together," she told him, smiling slightly as she set her empty mug on the coffee table then leaned back against the couch.

He leaned back against the sofa, as well, yawning involuntarily, a faint smile touching his lips. "As long as we're both foaming at the mouth I guess it's okay."

Chloe smirked softly, closing her eyes and relaxing for a moment, "good to know that makes it more acceptable," she teased quietly, remembering the conversation they'd had almost two months ago.

Oliver looked over at her, his expression softening a little.

She sighed and opened her eyes after a moment, glancing over at him, "what?"

"Nothing," he said quietly, shaking his head a little.

Chloe cocked her head for a moment and watched him then pursed her lips together, "what are we going to do?"

His eyebrows furrowed a little. "I think we've been doing okay. Better than I expected," he admitted quietly.

She paused a little at that, squinting slightly, "we are?"

"Aren't we?"

Chloe shook her head a little and turned slightly to face him, "what are you talking about?"

That made him pause. "You weren't...you meant the mission. Right," he murmured.

"Oh," she took a deep breath and looked down, nodding a little, "yeah.."

Oliver rubbed a hand over his face. "On second thought, I should probably head to bed." His voice was almost inaudible.

Pursing her lips together, she nodded a little but kept her eyes on him, "it's late."

He turned his head to look at her once more, meeting her eyes. "Very."

Chloe held her breath a little and held his gaze, nodding a little. There was a lot she wanted to say to him, there was a lot she _should_ say to him, but at that moment, she could only thing of everything she wanted to do to him.

He swallowed hard, recognizing the look on her face. It was one he'd seen dozens of times before. Unconsciously, he shifted closer to her.

She looked down, letting her breath out slowly and lifting her hand to touch the back of his with her fingertips gently. She shouldn't, she knew she shouldn't, _they_ shouldn't, but she missed him.

Oliver closed his eyes, slowly turning his hand over and sliding his fingers through hers, bringing her hand to his lips and kissing the back of it softly. "Chloe..."

Her stomach tightened as she raised her eyes to his face again, holding her breath.

He opened his eyes once more, meeting her gaze and slowly lifting his other hand to her face, gently tucking some hair behind her ear.

Chloe glanced at his hand for a moment then back at him, swallowing hard, her heart beating fast against her chest, she should pull away, she knew she should pull away.

He gazed at her, shifting closer without thinking about it, his thumb brushing lightly over her cheek as he leaned in and kissed her softly on the mouth, his nose brushing against hers.

She let her breath out slowly and stilled for a second before returning the kiss just as softly.

Oliver shuddered a little, his hand sliding up and into her hair, his tongue brushing against her lips, seeking access.

Chloe made a quiet noise in the back of her throat and parted her lips under his, hesitating before lifting a hand to the back of his neck.

Everything about it was so familiar, so _right_. At the soft noise she made, he deepened the kiss slowly, tugging her closer, onto his lap. His heart was beating rapidly against his chest.

She didn't even notice what he was doing until she was straddling his legs, her body started responding to him the second his lips touched hers and every thought completely left her brain.

Oliver broke the kiss, trailing his lips down the front of her throat, his hands sliding down her back and then beneath the material of her shirt until they made contact with bare skin. 

Chloe kept her eyes closed, shivering at the contact of his lips to her throat and his hands on her back, her head falling back to allow him better access as she dropped both her hands to his chest and down his torso, reaching for the hem of his shirt.

He tugged her closer to him, nuzzling her jaw with his nose and then kissing her there. "Chloe," he whispered, his voice soft, almost reverant.

She slid her hands inside his shirt and ran her fingertips over his side, it had been four months, but it felt like so much longer. She turned her head and looked at him for a moment before lowering her lips to his again, but this time, she kissed him hungrily.

Oliver shuddered at the feel of her hands against his skin and returned the kiss with just as much hunger, reaching down and sliding her shirt off over her head, then kissing her again. 

Chloe pulled his shirt up, then off too, taking a deep breath before she could return the kiss, then shifting on his lap, sitting as close to him as she could.

He slid his arms around her waist, then shifting on the couch, laying her down beneath him, his arms beneath her as he kissed her. 

She arched her back for his arms and shifted when he laid them down, bending her knees up and wrapping her legs around his waist, "Ollie," she moaned quietly against his mouth, opening her eyes as she broke the kiss.

Oliver looked down at her, his eyes glazed as he panted for breath. 

Chloe met his gaze and let her breath out, her eyes widening slightly as she stared up at him.

He swallowed hard, the breath catching in his throat at the look on her face. "Chloe?"

All she could think of, all she wanted to say to him were the three words he had said to her when he thought he was being attacked by the Kandorians. They had never talked about it, they had never discussed what it meant. Pursing her lips together, she looked away and shook her head, "We shouldn't do this," she said breathlessly. Her heart pounding against her chest.

He felt his chest tighten at her words, as she looked away from him. He sat up slowly, releasing her without hesitation.

Her stomach dropped as he pulled away and she sat up quickly too, reaching for the floor and picking up her top. Her head was spinning and her brain was suddenly working fast as she tried to make sense of his reaction. If they started this again, they would just hurt each other more, they would hurt each other to a point where they couldn't even stand to be around each other anymore and they had to be, they had to work together.

Chloe slid her shirt on quickly and stood up, holding her breath as her eyes started to tear up before turning to look at him, "it will be better if we just, we need to stay away."

Oliver didn't look at her as he tugged his shirt back on, as well. "Right," he whispered. He rose to his feet, heading for the door, feeling dizzy and overwhelmed. He shut his eyes as his hand curled around the door handle. "This was my fault. I'm sorry." His jaw tightened slightly, his eyes stinging even as he opened them again and blinked rapidly. "It won't happen again." Without waiting for a response, he opened the door and slipped out of the room.

She watched as he walked away, wrapping her arms around herself and let out a shaky breath slowly, closing her eyes as tears ran down her cheek while she stopped herself from going after him.

He didn't go to bed that night. He put on his uniform and went out patrolling. And by the time the sun rose, he'd returned, showered, and headed into Queen Industries, where he would remain until it was time to leave for Germany. 

He was already dreading it. 

* * * 

**Hessischer Hof Hotel -- September 17, 2010**

Oliver lay in bed that night, staring up at the ceiling blankly. The room was silent. Too silent. Enough so that he could actually hear Chloe's breathing just feet away from him. He drew in a silent breath and let it out slowly, draping an arm over his eyes.

She had her back turned to him, but she couldn't sleep. They had decided to go to bed an hour and half ago, and she was completely exhausted from the trip and all the research they'd done since they landed, but she was far too aware of the fact that Oliver was laying in the next bed to be able to relax. She sighed deeply and rubbed her hands over her face before turning to lay on her back.

The night was all too eerily familiar, a reminder of just a few nights before, and that line of thought made his stomach twist into a knot. What he wanted was to get up and get the hell out of there. To put on his uniform and patrol, even if it was in unfamiliar territory. And maybe return once the sun was up. But he hadn't brought his uniform, and he knew if he got up and left, Chloe would blame herself. Worse than that, she'd probably insist on leaving--not the hotel maybe, but once they returned to Star City. She'd go back to Metropolis, try to do things on her own.

He couldn't let that happen. It was far too dangerous and if anything happened to her because of him, because he'd been too damn _selfish_ to just lay there and not flee the room, he'd never forgive himself. So he lay still, his breathing deep and even.

Chloe glanced toward him and raised her eyebrows, trying to see if he was awake or not. She wanted to get out too, just grab a coat and go for a walk, get out of there and just... breathe for a while. But she didn't want to wake him if he was asleep and she didn't want to worry him if he wasn't. She had made things uncomfortable enough as it was between them, because despite the fact that he had readily taken blame for it, she knew the truth, she knew she had started things.

They had been managing to be civil to each other, even friendly, and she had ruined it. Now he could barely look at her.

After a long time, Oliver sighed inaudibly and turned over onto his side, facing away from her and tucking his arm beneath the pillow.

It was going to be a very long night.


End file.
